A letter from Walker Iyer, likely to Amy C., as published in her biography of him, This One Thing:

"To one tempted to introspection he wrote:

'Your text in my birthday book, as you may possibly remember, is "In the Hand of God." There is no safer place than that. "No man shall pluck them out of My Father's hand." And it is not merely in His Hand, but indelibly fixed there: "I have graven thee upon the palms of My Hands." We must look, therefore, not at our own oscillating and wavering state, but at the strong Hand which holds us; not at the ruinous tendency within us, but at the safe bulwarks without us and around us. There is no doubt or uncertainty about it. "The righteous"--those who cast themselves on Jesus' righteousness as their one and only hope--are in the Hand of God. And our work is there too, a feeble unsatisfactory thing, but in the Hand of Omnipotence. I know full well, from often repeated experience, all your feelings and sense of despair and doubt and unworthiness, but we must not give way to them. We stake our all on Jesus and His precious Blood and the power of His endless life. And they never lose who risk their soul's salvation there. You little know all the doubtings and shakings which I have experienced in India. Why are God's dealings thus? Why does the everlasting Gospel make so little headway? Why is the Christian Church so weak and dead and dark? These and a thousand other doubts and fears, besides those personal ones which I have already mentioned, rise up within one's mind. But doubt is of the devil: faith is of God. And one anchor-truth holds firm, even in darkest hours--if Jesus is not the world's true Saviour, at least there is none other. In other words, it is the cry, the out-leaping cry of Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." After all, it is the internal evidence for the truth of the Gospel, rather than external arguments, which is soul-convincing. It is when we taste and see that the Lord is good that we realize the companion truth, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." So we will trust and hope and, by God's grace, love; for we are in the hand of God. May you realize this new year much of the blessedness which springs from such a consciousness.'

And again to the same tempted one:

'I think you make a mistake about yourself in taking dark retrospects. What is the use of looking inwards, except to humble ourselves and get us to the dust? Who dare write anything but failure over a single day of life? But, surely, instead of useless complaints, we should seek to remedy, in God' s strength, what is wrong. Is it neglected prayer? Well, let a definite time be set apart and jealously kept for prayer. Is it a neglected Bible? Well, it is in our own hands. Let us seek time to read it. Above all, there must be more looking Christward. He is our righteousness and our salvation. Then why do we seek righteousness in ourselves? I think that you take morose views. There is the Word, there is the Throne of Grace, there is the Fountain and the Wardrobe. Vain self-accusations (though who does not need to accuse self?) do no good. We must seek new grace for each new day.'"